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I imagine that sometimes the pitch for a new board game must sound a lot like the pitch for the weird blockbuster movie of a year. “It’s a Patience game, only you can play it with friends and it’s about rescuing people from the Titanic.” It probably wasn’t an easy sale, but here it is: SOS Titanic, the multiplayer solitaire game with superpowers.

German cities tend to have a long and eventful history. Germany is also one of the origins of modern boardgames. It comes as little surprise that many German cities have already been used as setting for boardgames. Cologne has Colonia, Hamburg Hamburgum, Trier Porta Nigra, and the list goes on. One city not so blessed so far is Ulm. Until now, that is, because now there is Ulm, a medium heavy strategy game Günter Burkhardt designed around the city.

Eselsbrücke is one of this year’s nominees for the Spiel des Jahres award. It’s a memory game with a fun mechanic, and really quite taxing for your memory. But is that enough to win the prestigous award?

Despite what the title implies, 7 Wonders is not a civilisation building game but a very strategic card game that only reveals it’s depth after a few plays, and then some. Enough to win awards left, right and centre. And the best part? You can play in 30 minutes!

Some people don’t like too much randomness in games. Those people better stop reading now, because we’re talking about Fluxx. Fluxx is slightly more random than getting up in the middle of the business meeting yelling “CAULIFLOWER” … while wearing a wombat suit. And this here is not just any Fluxx, iiiiiiiiit’s MontyPython’s Flying Fluxx Game!

Tichu may be the game that profited most from going on the intertubes so far: while it has been around since 1991, it was appearing on Brettspielwelt that made the name known to every gamer to ever be online. And deservedly so. While Tichu may look similar to any other card game you know, it’s quite a unique mix of trick-taking and shedding game, but gains most its fascination from being a team game.

The right combination of two familiar game mechanics can create something new and fun. Sea of Clouds combines a drafting game with a press-your-luck mechanic. If you enjoy only one of those, then this game is definitely worth your time because it combines the best parts of them. And it does that while letting you loot the skies as a flying pirate, if you needed any more convincing.

Not every game can be a brain-twisting, deeply strategic game. A gaming evening/weekend/vacation needs the fillers, the quick, light games that nevertheless everyone enjoys. And that’s where Pickomino, a game that you wouldn’t expect to show up in a serious gamer’s play time, has its niche.